Kasich, who favors privatizing state prisons, and Mohr pledged in a press conference that all state decisions involving privatization will be publicly bid and transparent. They also said Mohr would not participate in decisions involving his former employer, Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, a private operator.

From 2007-09, Mohr was a managing director for CCA, which owns and operates a private prison in Youngstown that houses federal inmates. Mohr currently is chief executive of Mohr Correctional Insight, a consulting company that has mostly worked with CCA.

Mohr worked for three decades in the state prison system, serving as deputy agency director under former Governors George V. Voinovich and Bob Taft. Mohr also held the position of warden in Chillicothe and two other facilities as well as deputy director and superintendent of the Department of Youth Services.